OSHKOSH — After months of debate, the Oshkosh Area School District voted unanimously Wednesday evening to demolish the historic Merrill school building.
The Merrill building currently contains an elementary and middle school section.
The school was 121 years old and dates back to 1901. A 2020 referendum approved $107 million in capital improvement funds for the school district. Much of that money is slated to go to the new Vel Phillips Middle School and a new elementary school.
Over the summer a local group of residents and some former students of the Merrill school organized to form the Save Historic Merrill School group.
The group wanted to preserve the original part of the building and use it as either part of the school district or sell it to be used for housing.
Oshkosh Area School District board members want the current area occupied by the building to be repurposed as green space for students of the new middle and elementary schools.
The district also floated the idea of a full sized track to be developed on the future on the space, but there are currently new funds set aside for the project.
Members of the Save Historic Merrill School organization presented another option for the track and additional green space to be at nearby East Hall Park.
The school board said that they don't have any definitive use for the park at this time, but didn't want students to have to cross Jackson Street to access school facilities.
